The economic turmoil on Wall Street has not reached the dusty country roads in the nation's Heartland, where a rural economic boom has meant farmers are not having much trouble getting loans to plant crops, buy land and replace equipment.

The race ever more chaotic, four Republicans are angling for superiority in a fast-approaching presidential primary in South Carolina, a state known for rough-and-tumble politics and predicting the outcome of the GOP nomination.

The race ever more chaotic, four Republicans are angling for superiority in a fast-approaching presidential primary in South Carolina, a state known for rough-and-tumble politics and predicting the outcome of the GOP nomination.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson tried to carve into an already established Republican presidential field in Iowa Thursday by casting himself as a common-sense conservative and the right kind of Washington, D.C., outsider to capture the GOP's nomination.